Lawyer seeks record $7.6 million after car crash
Large part of claim arises from losses caused by disruption to her career
A lawyer who suffered a whiplash injury after a taxi rear-ended the car she was driving is seeking a record $7.6 million in damages for disruption to her career progression.
Ms Moi Sok Ling, 41, who served seven years at heavyweight law firm Allen & Gledhill, was involved in the car accident on Jan 2, 2014, on what should have been her first day at work as an in-house counsel at global medical technology company Becton Dickinson.
She left the post of regional intellectual property counsel for greater Asia in July 2014 after seven months with the company. A central issue expected in court is whether the accident caused her to leave the job.
The accident occurred at about 8am along the Pan-Island Expressway. The Mercedes taxi driven by Mr Aw Ah Sing, 67, collided into the left rear portion of her Hyundai Getz hatchback.
According to court papers, she was shell-shocked and felt pain on her right shoulder, neck and back while her hands were numb. The whiplash injury she sustained led to spinal cord edema (swelling) and damage to intervertebral discs of the cervical and lumbar spine, with other injuries to her right knee, right foot and right wrist.
Her medical treatment included several weeks of medical and hospitalisation leave, and over the years, she has had regular physiotherapy sessions for her rehabilitation.
CABBY LIABLE
Ms Moi sued Mr Aw for damages.
Then Judicial Commissioner Foo Tuat Yien in 2016 found the cab driver was 100 per cent to blame for the accident.
The current matter in court is to assess the sums payable.
Ms Moi is seeking $6.45 million for loss of future earnings and loss of earning capacity.
She is seeking an additional $907,804 for loss of pre-trial earnings as well as $264,248 for medical treatment costs. She is also making several other claims including damages for pain and suffering among the items.
It is understood that a large part of her claim arises from financial losses caused by the disruption to her career as a successful intellectual property lawyer, despite attempts to mitigate her losses and rebuild her income.
These attempts included setting up her own law firm and consulting company as well as taking on roles as adjunct associate professor at National University of Singapore and associate lecturer at Republic Polytechnic.
WhiteFern managing director K. Anparasan, in representing the cab driver's insurer, is contesting the assessment and seeking to scale down the sums sought.
A High Court pre-trial conference was held yesterday before Judicial Commissioner Dedar Singh Gill.
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